I try, when I can, to make the hour drive to Johns Hopkins Hospital when I think I’m having a medical emergency. However, on October 12th, I thought I might be having a heart event of some sort, and realized that I needed to get to the closest ER possible. This meant driving 10 minutes to the Meritus Hospital ER, which turned out to be the worst choice I have made, medically, since having surgery with Dr. WLS.

Over the week prior, I had reoccurring headaches, and increasing pain/weakness in my right arm. On my birthday, October 11th, the pain had become severe, and had spread to the right side of my torso, including over my sternum area. I really didn’t want to go to the hospital on my birthday, and I kept telling myself that it was the “wrong arm” (as, stereotypically, heart events cause pain in the left arm). However, by 3am I was having a hard time taking deep breaths, and the pain in my chest was pretty significant. I woke Rave up and told her I thought I should get checked out, even if it’s just to rule out a heart event.

I had other reasons to worry: I’ve had a bunch of irregular tests lately when it comes to my blood, my blood pressure, and my doctor was suggesting a statin because my HDL was a little (but only a little) high. My blood sugars have been high regularly, and it had been hard to regulate it because I kept having to go off my Metformin due to CT scans and other tests. (Metformin raises your body’s sensitivity to insulin, which helps a diabetic use less insulin – or none at all – to regular their blood sugar numbers.) And the pain I was feeling was pretty damn severe, especially in my right arm. In fact, the reason it’s taken me this long to write about this is because my right arm is still in severe pain – 7 out of 10 pain on a good day – and my hand and fingers have had some weakness as well, which has made it hard to type at all.

So Rave woke up and we drove down to the Meritus Hospital. I’d been there once before, for what turned out to be a superficial blood clot. I wasn’t very impressed then, but it wasn’t awful.

When we arrived, I was pleased to see that there weren’t many other people in the waiting room. One of my biggest reasons for being hesitant about going to the ER is the fact that often, we have to wait hours upon hours before anything significant happens, and I feel bad that the person who brings me there has to stay up all night (or longer) just so I can find out it’s no big deal. Also, ER waiting rooms tend to fill quickly starting on Friday night and lasting through the weekend, since people can’t call their regular doctors for less emergent stuff – or they wait until the end of the work week to seek treatment, so they don’t have to miss work.

The ER has big signs as you enter that say something like “If you are experiencing CHEST PAIN or SHORTNESS OF BREATH, please inform the registration desk immediately”. Since they were both happening to me, I rolled up to the desk and pointed to the sign and said, “That’s me.” I waited about five minutes before a triage nurse came out and led me directly to a EEG machine to determine if I was having a heart attack right then. Things looked a little abnormal, but not “OMG” abnormal, so they walked me through the rest of triage and then brought me back.

That was the end of anything that made sense for the rest of my visit.

A doctor came and saw me about 30 minutes after I was brought back, which seemed like a little too long for someone who might be having some sort of heart event. After listening to my lungs and asking me some questions, he decides I need a breathing treatment. I look at him and ask how that would help my heart problem, and he said, “Well, this will help us rule out something like an asthma attack”. “How about the fact that I don’t asthma?” Anyway, we had to wait for a respiratory nurse to come and administer the treatment, maybe another half hour. As soon as I was hooked up to the mask, other nurses came and tried to take me to CT and X Ray, and were told to come back when I was done. The breathing treatment did nothing for me but make me feel high and unfocused, which was not conducive to me answering the hundreds of questions nurses and doctors and techs had for me over the next two hours.

When I told the CT tech that I have had over 20 CTs in the last year, she freaked out a bit. “We usually recommend no more than 6”, she says. So I ask her, “Do you think this CT is absolutely necessary?” …and of course she says, “Yes.” I’ve asked that question every time I am asked to have a CT, and never ever has a doctor said, ‘Oh, well, now that I think of it, maybe we can do something else.”

When I got back, the IV ordeal began. The first tech poked me three times before she gave up, even though I showed her where most phlebotimists have had good success getting a vein. Then the doctor came back with an ultrasound machine, so he could visualize the vein before poking. Even with that, it took him three different tries to get a good line. This did not instill any confidence in me whatsoever. After that, I was given a small amount of pain meds – that did jack shit – and sat waiting for almost two hours. Also, after I witnessed my doctor put the needle in, then reach to a shelf with the same glove (thus contaminating the shelf) in a very habitual manner (which means this has happened before, with other patients), I asked him to change his gloves before he proceeded. In every other medical situation I’ve ever experienced, a request to wash hands or change gloves has been met with immediate compliance and no questioning. This doctor, on the other hand, looked confused and angry, and tried to explain to my why it wasn’t necessary. When I tried to point out how he was wrong, he copped an attitude and stripped the gloves off in a way that clearly communicated “I totally don’t want to do this, and I’m angry you asked”.

After this, a brand new doctor comes to see me – maybe because of the glove issue, since I saw the first doctor still there. This part is going to make me seem less PC, but I hate doctors who can’t speak English well enough to be understood. This new doctor was some flavor of Asian, and I couldn’t understand her at all. I had to have her repeat herself three or four times, and then I would try to restate what she said to make sure I got it right. I was told I had a PE, or pulmatory embolism, which is a pretty fucking big deal, life and death stuff. She told me I would be admitted for observation and for further testing. I didn’t feel I had a choice, since I had a PE, so I agreed.

One of the big things about Meritus that makes it a bad hospital is that the ER is the nicest part of the hospital. Once you get admitted, you’re shown through hallways and rooms that are old, dirty, not well kept, and feel depressing. Not that I’m usually overjoyed about being in the hospital, but many decorate the rooms so it seems a little less like you’re in a prison. This fact was made sadder when I found out that the hospital had been completely renovated only a few years ago. I was put on the “observation floor”, and considering how little actual “observation” I recieved, this misnomer should probably be changed.

I was brought a meal I couldn’t eat much of, and then the nurse chastised me for not eating more. When I explained to her I had food sensitivities that made most of this inedible, she told me that she would talk to someone in dietary to come up and discuss better food choices. Not only was it inedible because of my diet, but it was also completely unappetizing. I am pretty sure their miniscule portion of scrambled eggs were from a powder, having eaten my fair share of powdered eggs in my time. The only thing I was given to drink was coffee, which I can’t have because I am sensitive to caffiene.

During the intake, I was never asked about what meds I take. However, I was grilled at length about every single personal item I had brought with me. From my glasses to my underwear and my wallet to my Nook. I stopped at one point and asked the nurse “Is there a lot of theft in this hospital that makes this necessary?” She looked sheepish and said, “Oh, no, no.” But it did come across as though they were much, much more worried about someone stealing my phone than knowing what meds I take or what medical conditions I have. (Which no one ever asked me except at triage, and that was from a set list, which didn’t include many conditions I have.)

Then I spent hours just sitting around. No tests, no doctor visits, no pain or nausea meds, nothing. Finally, Rave started chasing doctors and nurses down to find out what was going on or to ask if I could have more meds. This is when we both directly observed hospital personnel, on several occasions, sitting around talking amongst themselves about non-medical subjects (at least twice we saw really obvious sexual/romantic flirting going on).

Also, there are signs on the walls everywhere that informs you that personnel have smartphones, but “rest assured they are not being used for personal use, but to enable communication in the hospital”. Although I applaud hospitals experimenting with new tech to facilitate better care, these were the most annoying thing in the world. The problem was not the phones themselves, but that caregivers (at every level, from techs to doctors) would always answer them. No matter if they were in the middle of administering a test (like the CT), or explaining your health status, or while you were trying to explain what you were feeling so they could treat you. It’s like all of the bad habits of smart phone usage in the general public in a condensed form. It was so frustrating.

When I asked about my home med schedule, I was informed that I should take them from my own supply (which I always bring with me to the hospital, but not everyone does). Later on, a nurse or doctor (I was never clear on who was who, since no one introduced themselves to me, ever) flipped out about this, and demanded me to both list every med I took, and that I have Rave bring my med bag home at the first chance. Since they never gave me any of my maintenance meds while I was there, I’m glad we didn’t. It took forever to get any meds from the nurses, and every instance was treated as though I was being totally unreasonable for wanting nausea or pain meds. There are big posters that proclaim that they have a committment to treating pain, but my experience was the exact opposite. And this wasn’t the typical, “Wow Del, you’re on a really high home regimen of pain meds, so we don’t want to give you any more”, because I am on (comparatively) much, much less pain meds than I was a year ago.

Finally, after waiting over 6 hours for the cardiologist to come (even though the other doctor said everything about my heart looked just fine, which was suspect in itself since I have heart problems they never asked about, like an enlarged heart), having been assuaged that I was next in line at 9am and it was now 3pm, the hospitalist came in and I asked her if there was any reason for me to stay in the hospital if everything looked good. At some point, the fact that I was told I definitely had a PE kinda went away, as no one else had heard this when we asked. Also, the fact that I had been told I was to be given a diruetic since my legs were swollen never happened either. So at this point, I see no effing reason why I needed to stay any longer. The hospitalist actually agreed with me, but asked me to wait a little longer so the cardiologist could sign off on my discharge.

The hospitalist came back about 3 minutes later and said, “Oh, he won’t be able to get to you for a while, so you can just go home.” She took out my IV and told me she’d be back in a minute with my discharge papers. 10 minutes pass. 20. Then I decided to put on my clothes to make it clear I was leaving. A phlebotomy tech comes in and tells me I need another blood test. I tell her I was told, definitely, that I was only waiting for papers to be discharged. She, very confused, went and talked to the doctor, the exchange of which happened right outside of my door. The phlebotomist was clearly of the attitude that I was just being beligerent, even thought I had been calm and collected (no matter how angry I was at this whole fiasco) when talking to her. The doctor comes in and says, “Oh, you need to do this test before you can be released”. I said, “No. You said I could go home now, and the only thing in the way was getting the discharge papers. I’m holding you to that.” She shrugs and says, “well, we don’t really need it anyway.”

As one last “Fuck you, Del”, as I signed my discharge papers, the nurse pulls out a “Against Medical Advice” (or AMA) document. This is what you have to sign if you leave a hospital when the doctors have clearly told you you shouldn’t. She tries to quickly explain that because I refused to stay for another test, I had to sign myself out AMA.

“Bullshit.” Was my answer. I refused to sign. This means that if I ever go back to that hospital, I will be marked as a non-compliant patient, which definitely affects the care you receive. But you couldn’t drag me back there if my life literally depended on it.

There was one moment of levity, though. At one point, a tech came to put on the EEG machine and started using masculine pronouns. The nurse or doctor who came in heard this and tried to correct the tech. The tech looked at me and my only answer was “I chose a gender-neutral name for a reason!” For the rest of the exchange, the tech used male pronouns while the doctor/nurse used female ones. It was amusing.

But not amusing enough to make me ever want to go back there. Or send anyone I care there if they need more than stitches. I will find a better local hospital, or I will endure the drive to JH.

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3 Comments

Lisa S.said,

Wow! I’m so sorry your stay at Meritus was so awful! It’s actually a newer hospital … it opened in December 2010 when Washington County Hospital was closed (it was built to replace WCH which was built in 1904). I’m surprised to hear that the hospital was dirty (I know some of the folks on the housekeeping staff so will mention it to them), and that the doctors/nurses seemed to be lacking, as most of my experiences there have been pretty good (other than the reasons I was there). The only complaint I ever had about the hospital is the amount of gossiping that goes on among the staff and with EMS, and I addressed that with someone at the hospital back in July.

I hope that things start to look up for you soon, and that your health starts to get better. I can’t even begin to imagine how frustrating it must be for you. I’ll continue to keep you and Rave in my prayers.

Frostbite36said,

Yeah I just left there went in for severe pain in my left arm first off no one asked me what medications I’ve taken at all so the kid dr. Comes in and says well let’s get an EKG and an x-ray and we will do blood work to and we will get you some pain medicine now before I went in I take 4 200mg of ibuprofen so that equals 800mg of what ibuprofen and I took a 10/325 Percocet ok now no one has yet to ask me what I’ve taken yet today now I take Percocet on daily bases for a bone spur in my neck that is that’s pushing on my nerves in my neck and I’m getting surgery when I get enough money for 6 months off work so I have a 10/325 Percocet already in me and 800mg of ibuprofen in me first comes the blood work no problem I felt the pinch because of the pain in my left arm and shoulder but it could have been better for blood work then comes EKG in witch she did a really good job then comes my pain medicine here you the nurse says 800mg of guess what ibuprofen So I take it then proceeded to tell her that I’ve already took 800mg of ibuprofen before I came in she was like are you serious I was yeah well she said that’s going to destroy your stomach funny thing is is no one at this point has yet to ask me what medicine I’ve taken yet earlier so then I go get my x-ray done witch was fine and I come back waited in the room for an hour and a half then Dr. Kid I’m calling him dr. Kid because he looked like one comes back in says everything looks good I’m going to start you on an antiflamitory medicine I said I already take 800mg ibuprofen 2 times a day plus 10/325 Percocet 4 times daily for my spur in my neck he says well it takes about a week for it to work at this point I was very upset at Dr. Kid witch come to think of it he looked pretty stoned to me so I said no I’m not doing that I said my stomach is destroyed already from what I was told I proceeded to tell him that this is a hospital right this is where you treat pain right he was like yeah I said then how come I’m still in a lot of pain then I ask what happen to this place washington county was the greatest we was top 100 hospitals in the country I said now I see why you guys get bad reviews online just check me out he was like I already have I said I’ll die before I come back here whats really sad is that a buddy of mine got kick out on the street 2 months ago when he couldn’t walk here come to find out he had a massive blood clot in his leg so the bottom line is meritus is the worst hospital in the country and they don’t have a good record for saving people either it’s really starting to spread in the county now